CNN "State of the Union with Jake Tapper" - Transcript: Interview with Senator Bill Cassidy
Interview
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TAPPER: All right.
This morning, the first COVID-19 vaccines are shipping out across the U.S., as the Electoral College is preparing to vote tomorrow, as Vice President Gore just noted.
The question is not over who will be president on January 20, but whether the majority of Republicans in Congress will finally accept reality and the will of the voters and recognize president-elect Joe Biden.
Joining me now, Republican Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. He's been working on the COVID relief bill.
And we're going to get to that in a second, Senator.
But I do want to start with the Supreme Court, which summarily dismissed this latest challenge by President Trump, this Texas lawsuit supported by the president, 18 other states, 126 House Republicans, asking to overturn the fair and free election and victory of president-elect Biden.
Do you think it's time for the president and the Republican Party to just stop this nonsense and begin accepting the reality here?
SEN. BILL CASSIDY (R-LA): Well, I can't speak for everybody.
I will notice that -- I will note that, when the president instructed the government -- the General Services Administration to begin the transition process, the GSA, that that was an acknowledgment that there was going to -- that a transition was taking place.
Now, I can't speak for people's emotions. Clearly, there's still disappointment. But in terms of the functional aspect of actually beginning the transition, that has begun.
TAPPER: Right, but you have accepted that president-elect Biden is president-elect Biden.
The Electoral College is meeting tomorrow to cast its votes formally for president-elect Biden. Is it time for -- I mean, you have said Joe Biden won. You have acknowledged it.
Is it time for Republicans to accept Biden as the president-elect?
CASSIDY: Well, you asked that before.
And I will just say that, obviously, he is the president-elect. He has 270 Electoral College votes. We're the law and order party. We are a nation of a Constitution. We're a nation of laws and courts that interpret those laws.
And, by the way, I have more confidence in the courts than ever because President Trump has appointed more judges than anybody ever -- anyone else ever has.
And so, as we're a nation of laws, and this is the Constitution, and this is the law, and this is how it breaks out, and the courts have ruled, then President Biden's going to be our next president.
Now, it's important, I think -- and I think that's kind of the subtext of what you're saying. I noted yesterday that folks who said that they were supporting President Trump in Washington were talking about tearing down the Republican Party. Others were saying, defeat our two senatorial candidates in Georgia.
As Jesus, as Abraham Lincoln said, a house divided against itself cannot stand. Our nation, our conservative movement, our Republican Party can't stand if we are divided against ourselves.
So, at some point, we have to come together for all those reasons.
TAPPER: But is it time for Senate Majority Leader and House Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy to do what you have done and acknowledge that Joe Biden is going to be the next president, that he is president-elect?
I mean, it's -- I want to turn on to -- turn to the coronavirus relief bill, but it just seems to me, just as an American just sitting here, I have never seen such a thing.
I mean, Joe Biden won.
CASSIDY: So, Jake...
TAPPER: And, since Election Day, he's won like 30 other times.
CASSIDY: So, Jake, I can't speak for other people, except, if you look at the actions of President Trump and of other leaders, they have clearly in their actions acknowledged that Biden has won.
Now, if you want a press release, I can't speak for their press team. If you want kind of the acknowledgement that we're working together, we're working for a transition, that we are going to make it happen, President Trump's done it. I assume that others have done it well -- as well.
It's going to happen. Is there going to be a mea culpa? I don't know that. I don't know if it's needed...
TAPPER: OK.
CASSIDY: ... even though I know some people want it.
TAPPER: So, let's turn to your efforts to find a compromise on coronavirus relief, which is so important to so many Americans, tens of millions.
McConnell says there's no path for your bill, and Congress should just pass a bill that has no liability shield for corporations, so they can be sued, and no money for state and local governments, which is what Democrats are pushing for.
[09:45:03]
Is he right? Is McConnell right? Or are you going to keep pursuing a compromise?
CASSIDY: Well, by golly, if we can pass that, wouldn't it be great?
The reality is, you got to have both parties working together to pass anything. And the folks on the left say they don't want that. And so, yes, it'll be great if we could pass that.
It doesn't seem that we can. We're the only bipartisan game in town. We're the only one where people have come together from both parties and said, listen, I'm not with you on that, but if you give me this, I will give you that, because we have got to do something for the American people.
We're going to introduce a bill tomorrow night. Now, the leadership can discard it. I can't govern that. I can only do that which is before me. And if we can introduce a bill tomorrow night that takes care of that small business owner, that she's just hanging on, and we're able to give her a little bit more support until the vaccine is disseminated, and the people she employs keep their job, that landlord who has been out of rent for three months, but now she can get that rent, so that maybe she can keep her place fixed up, if we can do that, we will have done our job.
What Leader McConnell decides to do, I don't have control over. I only can do what I can do.
TAPPER: I want you to take a listen to 52-year-old Angela Kearney. She's from Pennsylvania. She has struggled to pay her bills and buy Christmas gifts for her children this year.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANGELA KEARNEY, FURLOUGHED FROM JOB DUE TO PANDEMIC: I promised them that they would be normal children. And then the pandemic hit, and I can't keep those promises anymore.
I have to take the bills and throw them up and pick the ones and hope that they total the amount that I have.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Twelve million Americans are going to lose this unemployment benefit in January. Fourteen million households are at risk of eviction.
Yes or no, is there going to be a deal before you leave?
CASSIDY: There -- there will be a deal. And our bill addresses those issues. We care. The folks working on this bill have heard from her and heard from many others that we need to address this. Now, others can decide to accept our work product or not. But we care.
We're going to have that bill. And we're going to address those needs, those immediate needs. That is our goal.
TAPPER: Last question for you, sir, because you're on the Veterans Affairs Committee.
There's a report by the VA inspector general this week that found that VA Secretary Robert Wilkie tried to discredit a congressional aide and veteran who said she was sexually assaulted at a VA facility, and that he interfered with the VA investigation, the I.G. investigation.
The American legion, the VFW, the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America have all called on him to resign. Do you think he should resign?
CASSIDY: One, I don't -- I have no familiarity with the issue.
We're only 30 days out from the end. A man is innocent until proven guilty. So, he should have his chance to say that part of it.
That said, there should not be interference with an investigation like that.
TAPPER: OK.
CASSIDY: So, not knowing anything about the topic, still, there should not be interference with an investigation like that.
TAPPER: All right, Senator, thank you so much for your time today. Appreciate it.
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